Tag

"C'mon, Emma, let's play ball!" Penny exclaimed happily, all at the same time giving Emma a knowing look.

Emma nodded, clutching the ball in her hands and running after the brown haired 10-year-old. Penny grinned as she ran down to the far end of the field. "Throw it over here!" She yelled.

Emma nodded. "Okay, here it comes!" She let out a grunt and tossed the ball at Penny, but it sailed over Penny's head and rolled into the forest ahead of them. "Ughh..." Penny groaned. "Emma, that was too high for me to catch!"

"Sorry, Penny!" Emma yelled. "Let's go collect it together! You can tell me that story along the way."

"Okay!" Penny called. Emma soon hurried after Penny. A second later, Ray left his spot from his tree and followed the girls.

"Yeah, they're in a place no one would notice." Ray said, feeling behind his left ear. Norman did the same. "I never knew about a mark from when they took our blood, and it disappears that quickly?" Norman asked with a frown.

"That's what Emma and I realized." Penny said, turning to Emma. "Right?"

"Yeah." Emma pulled the ball up closer to her. "I knew, but I never even considered that would be it. Sorry."

Norman raised his arms with a smile. "Oh, no, you did great, Emma! Right, Penny?"

"Yeah!" Penny grinned. "You helped me figure out where the trackers were!"

Emma gave Penny and Norman a grateful smile.

Norman continued. "We know now the location and the size of the device! Onto the next step."

"The next step is..." Penny began.

"How to break it!" Norman, Emma, Ray, and Penny said in sync.

Norman felt his ear again. "Let's see. If we try to make an incision...."

"Mom might lift up our hair and see it." Emma said.

"That would be problematic." Penny said. "Since she brushes my hair for me occasionally."

"She'd catch on." Norman said in agreement.

"You're right." Ray said. "Well, whether or not we can break the transmitters, the tracking devices that are planted in us, aren't that useful in the grand scheme of things."

"What?!" Emma gasped. "How'd you figure that?!"

"The signal's so crude, it can't specify an individual." Ray exclaimed. "Without checking, she can't tell where we are, even if we're close to the gate or the walls, it doesn't notify her."

"But we still have them..." Emma frowned.

"Yes." Ray said. "But why? They must be confident they can come after us. As lon as the tracking devices are intact."

"Hold on." Norman said suddenly. "So that means, if it were to send a notification, it'll only been after it's been destroyed?"

"That's a definite possibility." Ray said.

"What do you guys mean?" Emma asked.

"I'm just as confused as you are, Emma." Penny said. She turned to the boys. "Care to explain?"

Ray turned to the girls. "Weren't you listening? An alarm probably goes off once the trackers are broken."

"So Mom would find out instantly?" Emma asked.

"If the notification function really exists." Ray said.

"But...no one but Mom purposely put us in on the existence of the devices. We can't ignore the risk."

"It's dangerous to even touch it." He stared at Penny. "So don't even think about it, Penny."

"Why would I do a thing like that?!" Penny snapped.

"So we can only destroy it when we escape." Norman said.

"What?!" Emma yelped. "But how do we deal with it?! We have to know!"

"Actually, I've been thinking." Ray touched his ear. "The shape and size of it, brings something else to mind. Leave it to me. I'll figure out how to work around."

"You sure?" Norman asked.

"Uh huh." Ray said.

"If you say so." Emma said. "It's all yours."

"Now the issue of taking the other children with us. The problem is, they all completely trust mom. They probably won't be able to handle the truth of our situation."

"If we wanna take them too," Emma mumbled, holding the ball up close. "We're going to have to lie to them?"

"There's another issue," Ray said. "Insufficient abilities. To put it bluntly, they're hinders."

"RAY!" Emma yelled, threatening him with the ball.

"You know it's the truth." Ray shot back. "Some of them aren't good at physical activity. Not to mention the babies who can hardly walk."

"What now?" Penny moaned. "This turned out to be a bit challenging than I expected-"

"I actually have an idea of how to deal with that." Emma said, interrupting Penny. Penny, Ray, and Norman turned to her. "Which is..."

Emma narrowed her eyes. "By playing tag."

"Tag?"

Emma got down to her knees, followed by the rest of the four. "Norman is "it" and everyone else runs."

"Oh, I get where you're going with this!" Penny grinned.

Norman nodded. "We pretend it's play, when we're actually training them! And Mom won't find out!"

"I'll teach 'em how to push their bodies to the limit. Penny, you teach them how to stay as quiet as possible. And as for sharpening their minds..."

"Leave it to us." Ray and Norman said.

The game began when the group finished their talk. Emma, Gilda, and Penny already took their team as Ray gave them instructions. "Don't rush. Concentrate. What can you do to escape? Norman isn't going to look over any details."

That was the thought that ran in Lannion's mind as he scanned around the area he was in. Two paths laid ahead of him. He ran towards the left path and made fake footprints in the dirt, carefully being sure to erase his old prints, and ran down the right path.

"Check the wind. Which way is easier to run?"

Don hummed as he glanced at the stair way and a rocky hill in front of him. "Let's see now..."

He took up the set of stairs.

Penny shushed her teammates, keeping them as quiet as possible.

Thoma chuckled as he hopped down a tree hill towards the ground. "This is awesome. I can last way longer than I did before. Maybe I can even beat Nor-WAUGH!" He let out a startled scream as Norman patted his shoulder.

"And I thought I was doing so good this time, too!"

"You can't just focus on your own footprints!" Ray told him. "You gotta check out Norman's, too."

Thoma turned to Ray in interest. "Really?"

"That's right, you also have to realize that Norman is reading your habits as an example..." He paused and glanced over at Sister Krona.

The rest of the team regathered at the house, and Sister Krona walked up, standing right in front of Penny, making her shudder.

Sister Krona smiled. "Outside playing tag looks like fun. It's important that I get to know all of you better, so let me join in! This match will have a twenty minute time limit. I'll be it this round! Now, then, run and hide!" She cooed.

The child on Sister Krona's shoulders laughed excitedly.

"Seven....eight...nine....and TEN!" Sister Krona grinned. "Now I get to see for myself exactly what Isabella's crop of special children can do! Let the game begin!"

Ray and Norman cautiously watched from their hiding spots as Sister Krona took off. "Now, how will the enemy move?" Ray asked.

"She'll probably come looking for us, first." Norman said.

Ray nodded. "And on the way she'll take out the younger, slower ones. Makes the most sense."

He and Norman split up, both running in different directions.

Sister Krona kept running until she finally stopped in the middle of the forest. She put her hands to her ears, listening intently. She frowned as she glanced on the ground. "Fake footprints? Strange, how is it so quiet..." She broke into a grin. "I'm gonna have to play for real then!"

Up in the trees, Penny, Emma, Norman, and Ray glanced at the ground uncomfortably. "She's not coming after us..." Emma whispered.

"What now?" Penny asked quietly.

"The real question is, what's she planning?" Ray muttered.

Hearing gasping, Penny looked down to see the kids forming a small group, each holding something. "What's this?"

Penny gasped as Sister Krona ran right up and grasped all the kids into a huge hug. "Guess I caught you!" She cooed.

Emma narrowed her eyes. "How'd she draw them all in?"

They climbed out from their hiding places and picked up the objects.

"These leaves have shapes in them..." Penny sweat dropped. "That's how she got them..."

"Yeah." Norman said. "She left these on the ground to lure them."

"So she's got a good head on her shoulders." Ray sighed, tossing the leaf away.

The gang went on. Penny watched with narrowed eyes as she caught each and every one of her siblings, and the ten year old managed to hold back a startled scream as Sister Krona smashed a tree in which Lannion was hiding.

"I can't believe it!" Lannion gasped as he ran up to the meeting place by the house. "She's impossible to beat!"

His eyes widened at the sight of Don and Gilda in front of him. "What?! Don and Gilda too?!"

Don shuddered. "She's crazy fast. I couldn't get away!"

"You're right!" Gilda wheezed. "She caught us in way less time than it takes Norman!"

Emma ran until she spotted two more survivors. They spotted her, and one of the kids suddenly hollered. "HEY, EMMA-" Both kids let out surprised grunts as Emma managed to grab them in her arms before Sister Krona could reach them. "Cover your moths!" Emma ordered, gasping. She kept running until she hid in the rocks. Things were silent until Sister Krona spoke.

"Running while carrying two kids takes stamina. You must be exhausted, EMMA."

Emma said nothing, her eyes wide as she panted into her hand.

Sister Krona continued. "You won't be able to move unless you've rest. Now that I've learned, Norman's failing point is his physical strength. I heard he was feeble when he was younger. Ray's weakness is that he's always a little too quick to give up. He tends to make fast decisions, but abandons them just as quickly. As for Penny, she's so loyal to her siblings that she'd sacrifice herself for them! And you, Emma! Your weakness is that you're naïveté."

Emma narrowed her eyes.

"Like carrying others while you're being chased, like they'd be helpless otherwise! Give up and come out already! I swear I won't do you wrong! Listen, Emma, why don't we level with each other? If you saw the harvest the other day...."

Emma gasped into her hand, her eyes shrinking.

"Then you should know I'm on your side."

Shakily, Emma and her two companions glanced up at Sister Krona. "I found you."

"Three more to go!" Gilda called out.

"How much time does she have?" Don asked.

"Eight minutes, forty seconds." Emma responded.

When Penny caught up to Norman and Ray, she was so exhausted that she felt like she wanted to pass out, but she knew better than to let her guard down. They were running at full speed now, Sister Krona was right on their tail. They split up, but why out of her, Norman, and Ray did she chose her?! Penny gasped, her eyes wide with fear. She knew Sister Krona wouldn't do anything to her in a normal game of tag, but this felt so real. Like the escape was happening right in front of her own eyes.

Norman quickly grabbed Penny's arm, coming out of nowhere, and quickly pulled her with him, jumping over rocks, Sister Krona close behind.

Sister Krona stopped and glanced at a high rock to see Norman standing there, with an exhausted and terrified Penny at his side. He gave the woman a hard stare.

Sister Krona gasped. "They are...truly elite..."

Ray walked up to Sister Krona, and held out his watch. "Your time's up."

Penny let out a small moan as Norman helped her off the boulder, and with Ray and Norman's help, she staggered back to the house, sitting down as soon as they stopped. She smiled at the cheering kids in front of her. The one thing she failed to notice was that Sister Krona was staring angrily at them.

"Norman...Ray....Penny...Emma...." Sister Krona hissed. Her eyes trailed to Gilda, who looked away. "And...."

Sister Krona smirked.

"Krona hasn't done anything since then." Emma said. "It seems strange."

"She's probably just following Mom's orders." Norman said. "Mom used to suspect us at first. But it doesn't seem like that now."

"I wonder what happened..." Penny muttered.

"Thoughts, Ray?" Norman asked, turning to Ray.

"I'd like to hear what you're thinking, Norman." Ray said.

"I think Mom did something behind the scenes so that she wouldn't have to make a move herself."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked.

"Think like Mom." Norman responded. "What's the easiest situation you could hope for?"

"Uh..."

"Knowing your target's every move without having to do anything yourself."

"But... you said there are no hidden cameras or listening devices." Emma said.

Penny let out a gasp, taking a step back. "You...you aren't saying that...."

"That's right," Norman said, nodding at his little sister.

"I think there's another person keeping an eye on us." Ray said. "And it's...someone among the kids."

"So there's a traitor..." Norman said.

"No..." Penny whispered.

The dinner bell rang, and Penny noticed Emma stop and look around.

Penny knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Who exactly is the traitor?"